Meyer looked a little dazed. "Pardon me if I seem thick, Mr. Stanton, but.... Are you saying that the Nipe's technological equipment is better than ours?"
"Not at all. I'm talking about his personal equipment." He turned again to the colonel. "Colonel Mannheim, do you think it would require any personal courage on my part to stand up against you in a face-to-face gunfight?"
The colonel grinned tightly. "I see what you mean. No, it wouldn't."
"On the other hand, if you were to challenge me," Bart Stanton continued, "would that show courage?"
"Not really. Foolhardiness, stupidity, or insanity—not courage."
"Then neither of us can prove we have guts enough to fight the other. Can we?"
Colonel Mannheim smiled grimly and said nothing, but Meyer, who evidently had a great deal of respect for the colonel, said: "Now, wait a second! That depends on the circumstances! If Colonel Mannheim, say, knew that forcing you to shoot him would save someone else's life—someone more important, say, or maybe a lot of people, then—"
Colonel Mannheim laughed. "Meyer, you've just proved Mr. Stanton's point!"
Meyer gaped for a half second, then burst into laughter himself. "Pardon my point of view, Mr. Stanton! I guess I am a little slow!"
Mannheim said: "Precisely! Whether the Nipe has courage or patience or any other human feeling depends on his own abilities and on how much information he has. A man can perform any action without fear if he knows that it will not hurt him—or if he does not know that it will." He glanced at the screen. The Nipe had settled down into his "sleeping position"—unmoving, although his baleful violet eyes were still open. "Cut that off, Meyer," the colonel said. "There's not much to learn from the rest of that tape."